Dressing Your Salad

Salad dressings can supply healthy fat that make salads taste good and enhances nutrient absorption, yet they can also add so many calories and so much saturated fat and sodium that your “healthy” salad makes a piece of pie look nutritious. Trying to find the good choices from an aisle full of choices can seem overwhelming, but dressing your salad healthfully need not feel like mission impossible.

The basic nutrition factors to consider for a well-dressed salad are: fat, calories and sodium. Regular, reduced fat and fat-free categories reflect differences in amounts of fat that usually parallel calorie content. Dressings labeled reduced-calorie and low-calorie are often reduced-fat and low-fat; it’s just a matter of what producers choose to emphasize on their label.

Fat and Calories

Most regular salad dressing contains 8 to 16 grams of fat and 80 to 140 calories in the standard two-tablespoon serving. Reduced-fat dressings often range from 4 to 10 grams per serving, which brings calories down to 20 to 60. Low fat dressings must contain 3 grams or less of fat per serving. Fat-free dressings must contain less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving and calories usually range from 15 to 40, depending on how much sugar and starchy thickeners are added.

People for whom anything less than a regular, full-fat dressing is unacceptable need to carefully limit the amount of dressing. It’s easy to exceed the two-tablespoon serving with a big salad, and calories add up quickly. Other people assume fat-free dressing is a necessity for weight control. But if you have a main dish salad filled with fat-free or low fat ingredients, a little bit of oil in the dressing enhances absorption of certain nutrients and plant compounds like beta-carotene, and may increase your sense of fullness after eating. Reduced-fat dressings can be a good compromise for people who want the flavor and mouth-feel of fat-containing dressings but don’t want more than scant amounts. Whatever category you choose, sample a variety until you find what suits you.

Type of Fat

Within regular or reduced-fat categories, check the ingredient list to see the type of fat used. Olive and canola oils are great heart-healthy choices. But some dressings include olive oil in their name and actually show another oil higher on the ingredient list and thus, present in larger amount. Other common options like soybean and sunflower oils are fine, although most of us already get plenty of the polyunsaturated fat they provide. Compare saturated fat content if you prefer creamy dressings.

Sodium

Almost all Americans exceed recommended amounts of sodium, which raises concern about the 250 to 550 milligrams (mg) of sodium in a serving of many bottled dressings. That’s 10 to 24 percent of the day’s recommended limit. Low sodium options may contain from 50 to 140 mg per serving.

Make Your Own

Making your own salad dressing takes only minutes. You can use canola or olive oil and little or no salt, with herbs, spices, garlic or just the natural good taste of the primary ingredients for flavor. A classic vinaigrette uses three to four times as much oil as vinegar but you can reduce the oil to only double the acid ingredient with a few simple tricks. Instead of harsher acids like red wine or cider vinegar, try lemon juice or a milder vinegar such as rice, white wine or raspberry. To thicken the reduced-oil dressing try a little Dijon mustard or a dab of honey. For lower fat creamy dressings, experiment using nonfat or reduced-fat yogurt, reduced-fat sour cream or buttermilk.

Find more from Karen Collins.

Karen Collins, D.C.N., M.S., R.D., serves as the nutrition advisor to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). Karen writes two syndicated weekly columns, "Nutrition Notes" and "Nutrition-Wise," distributed by AICR. Karen was an expert reviewer for AICR's landmark international report, "Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective," which provides recommendations based on an examination of more than 7,000 research studies by a panel of internationally renowned scientists. (Read her full bio.)